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Last year "Spice," a synthetic marijuana-like drug, was in the news for its appeal to teens who could buy it over the counter or online.

Today it's 25i, 4-FA, MXE, GBL, bath salts and other so-called designer drugs that are below the radar of most adults but familiar to adolescents and teens, who are experimenting with them to their peril.

"Two weeks ago, I got scared," said psychotherapist Richard Grosse at a drug awareness seminar Sunday at Winfree Memorial Baptist Church in Midlothian.

"The kids I'm working with are telling me about drugs I've never heard of," he said.

About 300 people, most of them parents, filled the chapel for the seminar held just weeks after a drug bust in the Charter Colony neighborhood resulted in arrests of more than 30 teens.

Police charged 23 juveniles and nine teens age 18 or older with either alcohol, curfew or drug violations in the incident, which generated complaints about a fight at a house party at a residence in the 1400 block of Gravatt Way. Police obtained a search warrant and recovered a glass smoking pipe and a bag of marijuana.

"There's a bunch of that (25i) stuff in our county now," said Grosse, of Dominion Behavioral Healthcare of Chesterfield.

"It's flowing into our county, and kids are taking it," he said.

Grosse, who counsels adolescents, said he was so worried he wrote a letter to principals, police and judges two weeks ago to alert them to the growing problem of the designer drugs. The drugs, he said, are cheap, and there's not a lot of data on them.

The seminar was organized by the Manchester Volunteer Rescue Squad and included a presentation by SAFE Inc., a nonprofit, substance abuse prevention organization in Chesterfield County

Some of the drugs are as cheap as $5, Grosse said.

Those who are using the drugs are putting themselves at serious risk.

Jennifer Reese, a paramedic and supervisor with the Richmond Ambulance Authority, described a case in which emergency crews responded to a call in Richmond in which five people 14 to 18 years old had taken 25i.

"That was the first time we saw 25i," Reese said. She said the teens exhibited different effects from taking the drug. The most serious was a young person who developed seizures that did not respond to the medications they would typically give on a call to someone in that state. "This is bad stuff and it is very scary," said Reese, referring to 25i.

"We are hearing about it in Virginia Beach … Powhatan (County)," she said.

Parents were advised to pay attention to behavioral changes in their children and to check their Facebook postings.

"I have a sophomore at James River High School," said Kathy Welling, who was at the seminar. "It was very informative to see that there are a lot of parents interested in the same things that I am and trying to come up with a solution to prevent this from going through the schools."